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U TED STATES PATENT ()FFlCE.

JOHN- o. THAYER AND JOSEPH PHELAN, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

PADDLE WHEEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 389,672, datedSeptember 18, 1888.

r Application filed February 24, 1888. Serial No. 265,178. (No model.)

To all whom it nay concern.- Beit known that we, JOHN C. THAYER and JOSEPH PHELAN, citizens of the United States of America, residing at NewYork city, in the county of New York and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improve inents in Paddle-Wheels, ofwhich the following is a specification, reference being bad therein tothe accompanying drawings.

;Our invention relates to improvements in the class of paddle-wheels forsteamboatstermed f feathering? wheels; and it has for its objects,first, to provide the wheel with bucketsso constructed and rigidlysecured in the frame-work in such manner that they will accuratelyfeather on entering the water, exert full propellingpower so long asthey occupy a vertical position therein, commence cutting or featheringout of the Water immediately'after passing over the center or out of avertical position, and empty on leaving the water, discharging directlyinto the succeeding bucket, whereby very nearly the whole amount offorce required to drive the wheel is that exerted in carrying thebuckets over the center. Another object of our invention is to constructthe buckets in'the arc of a circle, and so position them in the wheelthat they will gradually incline inward from front to rear, wherebyshould abucket meet an obstruction-such as floating ice-its leadingcorners only will take the shock. j p

Another object of our invention is to pre vent liability of the wheelexpanding or collapsing under great pressure, which object we accomplishby means of trusses so disposed in the frame-work as to rigidly supportthe rings and arms and to serve as a lock for the rear internalice-cutters, whereby'such floating cakes of ice as may come into contactwith it o.will be broken into such fragments as to be incapable ofinjuring the wheel or wheel-house or of clogging the wheel.

Our invention consists in certain details of construction andcombinations of parts, which will first be described in connection withthe accompanying drawings, and then clearly pointed out in the claims.In the drawings, Figure 1 is asideelevation of our improvedpaddle-wheel, the reversingblades being omitted. Fig. 2 is a view inperspective of the face of the wheel. Fig. 3 is a detail perspectiveview of a portion of the wheel. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of oneof theplates from which the buckets areformed.

Referring to the drawings,- A represents the shaft; B, the hub,'ofordinary construction; O, therings, of which there are threesets; and D,the arms. The arms are firmly bolted or riveted to the hub, and therings are bolted or riveted to the arms, as usual.

The buckets E are each constructed of two segmental metal plates, 6, thefront ends of which are cut on a rearward slant from the outer to theinner edge, (from the top to the bottom, as the plate is represented inFig. 4,) while their rear ends are cut on astill greater slant in thesame direction. These plates are bowed from the point 1 to the point 2,leaving the portions 3 and 4. flat, to serve as flanges by which tosecure the plates to a keel-post, F, and to the inner sides of the sideand middle rings, the front ends of the plates abutting squarely againstthe arms D and the rear ends aligning with the keel-post. Now, as thefront end of the bucket slants rearward and as it abuts squarely againstthe arms, which radiate from the hub, it follows that the inner portionof the rear end of each bucket extends inward out of a true circle andbeyond the next succeeding arm, and therefore into the mouth of the nextbucket following, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. As the inner portion ofthe bucket thus drops inward from front to rear out of a true circle,the outer portion of the bucket likewise drops inward from front torear, whereby should the bucket come into contact with an obstructionthe shock will. be borne solely on its front end.

G represents a series of metal braces or trusses riveted to the innersides of the rings 0, immediately in front of each arm and set flatwisein the arc of a circle, these trusses being constructed of straightpieces with flanged ends, and arcshaped pieces also with flanged ends,both pieces being riveted together at the center. Each truss isformedmidway with a recess, 9 in its edge, into which the rear end ofthe bucket, also formed witha recess, 6', interlocks. It will thus beseen that while these trusses are so disposed as to feather in thewater, and therefore oii'er the minimum resistance to the motion of thewheel, they arms, and support the buckets, thereby avoiding danger of anexpansion or collapsing of the wheel.

By the use of keel-posts at the rear of the buckets we are enabled, bysimply sharpening their ends, as at f, to utilize them as external andinternal icecutters to break up such cakes of floating ice as may comeinto contact with the wheel, or which, perchance, may work inside of it;but in case the cutters are not needed we can dispense with the keelpostand rivet the rear ends of the plates forming the bucket to each other,as at 0 in Fig. 2.

As an additional means for cutting the ice external of the wheel, weprefer to extend the side sets of arms beyond the rings and bevel theirleading edges, as at d. The middle set of arms, however, we find mostconvenient to extend only to the periphery of the outer ring,

and in lieu of the projecting beveled end we employa short beveled pieceof metal, H, on the top of the ring and riveted between the adjoiningsides of thetwo buckets, the leading edgesof which are also beveled tocorrespond with the bevel on piece H. It is evident, however, that wemight form effective cutters by simply sharpening the leading edges ofthe buckets, in which case, of course, none of the arms need extendbeyond the periphery, of the outer rings.

I represents a reversing-blade, hinged at its rear end to the outer sideof each bucket at a point just within the water-line of the bucket, asat i, the forward end ofv the blade being flared outward to form a wing,w, the said wing being recessed, as at 10, so that it may pass over therings and be supported thereby. It will thus be seen that the bladecloses the open space between the rings, and that the blade and side ofthe bucket form an additional bucket as the wheel revolves backward.

Although we have arranged. the buckets in pairs side by side, it isevident we may use but a single series without departing in the leastfrom the spirit of our invention.

The operation of our wheel is as follows: Ve will suppose that it isrevolving in a forward direction, as indicated by the arrowon Fig. 1.Now, on reference to that figure, it will be seen that the lowest frontcorners of the bucket first strike the water, and that the bucketcontinues to descend edgewise and fill until it assumes a positionvertical to the shaft, in which position it offers the greatestresistanoe. As soon as the wheelpasses over the center it begins to cutout of the water in the same manner in which it entered, meanwhileemptying over the inner portion of its rear end into the succeedingbucket, so that by the time it leaves the surface of the water it isentirely emptied. When the wheel revolves in a backward direction, thewater will impinge on the wings of the reversing-blades and throw theouter ends of the blades out against the rings, closing the openingsbetween the latter,

and thus forming auxiliary buckets. efiectnally tie the rings together,bracethe Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new,anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a paddle-wheel, the combiuation,with therings anda brace or trusssecured transversely between them, of a bucket constructed of twosegmental plates secured at their front ends to the rings and bowedinward toward each. other until they meet at their rear ends, where theyare secured together and to the brace.

2. In apaddle-wheel, the combination, with the rings and a brace ortruss secured transversely between them, of a bucket constructed of twosegmental plates having rearwardlysloping ends secured at their frontends to the rings radially from the hub, and bowed inward toward eachother until they meet at their rear ends, where they are securedtogether and to the brace.

3. In a paddle-wheel, the combination,with the rings and a brace ortruss secured trans versely between them,0f a bucket constructed of twosegmental plates and a keel-post, the said plates being secured to therings and bowed inward to the keel-post at the rear, to which they aresecured, and which in turn is secured to the brace.

4. In a paddle-wheel, the combination, with the rings and a brace ortruss secured transversely between them, of a bucket constructed of twosegmental plates having rearwardlysloping ends, and a keel-post havingsharpened ends, the said plates secured at their front ends to the ringsradially from the hub and bowed inward to the keel-post, to which theyare secured flush with its rear edge, and which in turn is secured tothe brace or truss.

5. In a paddle-wheel, the combination, with three sets of rings andbraces or trusses secured transversely between them, of a series ofbuckets placed in pairs, said buckets each constructed of two segmentalplates secured at their front ends to the rings and bowed inward towardeach other until they meet at their rear ends, where they are securedtogether and to the brace.

6. In a paddle-wheel, the combination, with three sets of rings andbraces or trusses secured transversely between them, of a series ofbuckets placed in pairs, said buckets each constructed of two segmentalplates having rearwardlysloping ends secured at their rear ends to therings radially from the hub and bowed inward toward each other untilthey meet at their rear, ends, where they are secured together andto'thebrace.

7. In a paddle-wheel, the combination, with three sets of rings andbraces or trusses secured transversely between them, of a series ofbuckets placed in pairs, said buckets each constructed of two segmentalplates having rearwardly-sloping ends, and a keel-post having sharpenedends, the said plates secured at their front ends to the rings radiallyfrom the hub and bowed inward to the keel-post, to which they aresecuredflush with its rear edge, and which in turn is secured to thebrace or truss.

8. In a paddle-wheel, the combination, with three sets of rings, bracesor trusses secured transversely between them, three sets of arms, theside sets of which extend beyond the peripheries of the rings, theprojecting portions being beveled on their leading edges, and shortbeveled metal pieces on the periphery of the central ring, of a seriesof buckets arranged in pairs, said buckets each constructed of twosegmental plates having rearwardly-sloping ends, and a keel-post havingsharpened ends, the rear ends of the plates being secured to the post,which in turn is secured to the truss, and the front ends of the platessecured to the rings radially from the hub and flush with the outer endsof the arms and central beveled piece, for the purposes set forth.

9. In a paddle-wheel, the combination, with the rings and the buckets,constructed as described, of reversing-blades formed with wings at theirfront ends and hinged at their rear ends to the outer sides of thebuckets, for the 3 5 purposes set forth.

10. In a paddle-wheel, the combination, with the rings and arms, of abrace or truss constructed of a straight metal piece having flanged endsand an arc-shaped piece, also havo JOHN C. THAYER. JOSEPH PHELAN.

WVitnesses as to signature of J. G. Thayer:

ALBERT SPEIDEN, ROBERT OwENs.

Witnesses as to signature of Joseph Phelan:

JOHN J EROLEMAN, JACOB APPELL.

